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Shipp: McKinney won't fade away after loss

Posted: Sunday, August 13, 2006

Bill

Shipp

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www.billshipp.com

Try this scenario as a nightmare for Georgia image-builders: Cynthia McKinney refuses to fade away.

She mounts a campaign for president or vice president as a Green Party candidate. Her defeat in the 4th District congressional primary increases rather than diminishes her national prominence. She qualifies for federal campaign matching funds. She pops up repeatedly in the tabloids and on cable TV. When a talk show host needs an interview with an over-the-top talking head, McKinney appears. She plays the race card over and over. The nation and the world are constantly reminded who she is and whence she came.

McKinney's inner circle is determined to keep McKinney viable. Running her for national office is among their considered options.

A still active and visible McKinney is just what Georgia Democrats do not need in the Nov. 7 campaigns. For a moment last week, donkey leaders sighed with relief. They thought a soundly defeated McKinney would leave the stage. Republicans could no longer use her as a reminder of what Democrats stood for. At least that's what Democrats hoped. They kid themselves.

She is a politician scorned who is not about to disappear. Doesn't matter that she has been beaten twice in the last three Democratic primaries in her district.

McKinney says she was robbed both times, vanquished by crossover Republicans and a hostile media. Members of her thug entourage toss around words like "Jews" and "crackers" as they express hostility for adversaries. They take out her defeat on journalists. A whole lot of pushing and shoving goes on. Anger and contempt are in the air.

Meanwhile, McKinney boogies and sings. She's a natural for "American Idol." She has potential to make a splash greater than the runaway bride and Ralph Reed combined.

Atlanta Business Chronicle columnist Dick Williams says he has never seen such a performance as McKinney delivered to her followers as her defeat became evident.

"The sheer silliness was overwhelming. When she finally spoke, McKinney sounded like a black John Rocker in a steroid rage. She attacked the media, the president, Halliburton, the Carlyle Group," Williams wrote.

This veteran Georgia commentator might have been taken aback, yet McKinney's fighting words undoubtedly delighted the far-lefties among her supporters across the country.

All things considered, however, McKinney's defeat is a cause for optimism in Georgia. In the McKinney contest as well as a couple of other races, Georgians rejected extremism in favor of pragmatism.

McKinney has not served her district well. She forgot the well-worn axiom that "all politics are local." She seemed to prefer national sensation over the dull work of representing Georgia constituents. For McKinney, battling the Capitol cops was more important than seeking funds for a DeKalb County roads project.

She was not only an embarrassment to her state and district, she also was an obstacle to progress. She often voted against Georgia-bound appropriations just to make a statement against the military establishment. Never mind that her vote could cost jobs in Georgia and the 4th District.

Some of Georgia's less flamboyant but equally unresponsive representatives ought to take note. Your constituents are in the Peach State, not on K Street or even in the White House.

What happened to McKinney can afflict any federal or state lawmakers who ignore their home base in favor of fancier contacts.

Sen. Max Cleland certainly was no Cynthia McKinney. Nevertheless, when Georgia voters were convinced that Cleland put the Democrats' national agenda ahead of home folks' wishes, they fired him from the Senate.

Sen. Sam Nunn, Georgia's most influential lawmaker in modern times, retired on his own terms as the state's most popular political figure. Despite his role in national defense and international affairs, he never forgot the source of his power. Georgia lost no military bases and its defense contractors thrived as never before on Nunn's watch.

Looking back, one wonders how Georgia voters could send a Nunn to Washington repeatedly at the same time that they elected McKinney and several similar zeroes to the House of Representatives.